Forty-Second Session of the General Assembly

The General Assembly opened its forty-second regular session at UN Headquarters on the afternoon of 15 September. (Opening day is known as the International Peace Day.) The 159-Member Assembly elected Peter Florin, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the German Democratic Republic, as President of the current session. Some 140 items are included in this year's provisional agenda. The general debate, which is expected to last for three weeks, commenced on 21 September.
Seated at the podium during the 13th plenary meeting are (l to r) Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar; Kishore Mahbubani (Singapore), a Vice-President of the Assembly; and Joseph V. Reed, Under-Secretary-General for Political and General Assembly Affairs.